Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to identify consumers’ resistance and motivational factors affecting the intention of using mobile financial services. The paper also examines the impact of trust in the acceptance of such services.

Design/methodology/approach
– To empirically apply the conceptual model and test the hypotheses, data are collected through a questionnaire involving 300 Tunisians non-users of mobile financial services and are analyzed using exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modeling.

Findings
– The paper identifies one resistance dimension – tradition. The paper also identifies four motivational dimensions – compatibility, trialability, perceived enjoyment and system quality. Tradition has a negative and a significant impact on the intention to use mobile financial services, whereas compatibility, trialability and perceived enjoyment have a positive and a significant impact on intention to use such services. In addition, system quality has a significant and positive impact on trust.

Practical implications
– These dimensions of consumer resistance and motivation should be viewed as the levers for improving the adoption of mobile financial services. Examining these factors can provide to financial service providers with valuable insights regarding which aspects of the service should be improved in order to implement mobile financial services. Furthermore, improvements in system quality allow firms to increase customer trust.

Originality/value
– Through a multi-faceted framework, the study extends the literature on innovation acceptance, exploring consumer resistance, motivational factors and customer trust in the context of intention to use mobile financial services. The paper also builds on previous models, especially Rogers theory of innovations’ diffusion (2003).